April Fools Day Office Pranks: How to fool someone this April 1st

If you're the resident office mischief maker, it's time to get your April Fools Day pranks for the office sorted. After all, you have a reputation to live up to! Trust us - these are the April Fools Day pranks that are going to cement your infamy in the annals of workplace history. Be warned though - they may also make you the target of a joke revenge attack. If this is the path you choose, you'll need to be forever on your guard (and perhaps keep your office drawers locked).

Snake in the drawer

The old fake rubber snake is one of the classic April Fools Day pranks. It's been terrifying people for decades and when placed in the right spot, it gets quite the reaction. Even in an environment where snakes are almost impossible to be found (like an office in the city), human reaction when they see a threat can be great terror. And hilarious.

Tape over mouse laser

If you’re more into annoying people than scaring them, this could be one of the best April Fools Day pranks for you. Just a simple bit of sticky tape can ruin a person’s morning when placed over the laser on the bottom of their mouse (surely no one is still using a track ball mouse are they?). Watch and laugh as they try to plug, unplug, install and re-install. Unless they’re smart enough to check under the mouse itself. It’s a good IQ test really.

Fake chocolates

That 3pm sugar hit in an office is an addiction as brutal as any drug on the planet and that’s why it’s so great to mess with. You can use your imagination as to what brown substance you swap for the real chocolate (how sick are you?), but simply wrapping it neatly in a chocolate wrapper is easy to do. This is one of those April Fools Day pranks that's especially great to play on your female colleagues. That is if you're brave enough to get in between a woman and her chocolate.

Salty coffee

If you think messing with someone’s chocolate is dangerous, April Fools Day pranks like this one could get you murdered. Replacing sugar for salt is an oldie but a goody. Nothing’s sweeter (for you, that is) than seeing their first sip of their salty coffee. If you have sugar packets instead of jars, it may require a little bit of surgical skill to open and reseal the packet. However it's well worth it, as the sugar is hidden and therefore less likely to arouse suspicion.

Switch keyboard plugs

Another simple computer hardware trick for an April Fools Day prank is the old keyboard cord switch. If you have two computers within close proximity of each other that still use USB wired keyboards, simply plug the keyboards into the opposite computers and wait for the reactions as random words and commands come up on their screen, and their computers appear to be operating themselves.

Ctrl+Alt+Down arrow

Here is a sneaky little April Fools Day prank for those who leave their Windows computer logged on. By clicking Ctrl with Alt and the down arrow, the screen will flip upside down. It’s a shortcut feature that even the most savvy of computer users will struggle to get their head around. This prank could last so long they end up turning their entire monitor upside down. Try not to laugh too much as they tilt their head into weird positions while trying to read their screen.

Scare someone from inside a box

A joke that’s been around since the ancient Greeks pranked the Trojans with their giant wooden horse is the 'hide and wait in a box' prank. Well, the Greeks may have taken it a little too far with the whole slaughtering and burning down the city part. But your April Fools Day pranks can be a little more innocent. Maybe don’t do this prank on someone who carries a gun, or takes heart medication.

Mentos in soft drink glass

A little bit of science fun in your April Fools Day pranks is why the old Mentos and soft-drink trick is so great. Hiding a hard lolly like a peppermint in a glass that someone is about to pour soft drink into will require a little bit of sneakiness to pull off, but well worth the effort. We recommend ice cubes as a form of camouflage. For those who don’t know, the carbon dioxide in soft drinks (especially diet soft drinks) will react with sugar-layered lollies and cause it to fizz up, sometimes in an explosive manner. Warning: This can get very messy.

This Autumn, don't let the April Fools Day pranks be on you

Lantern Club's MaZi Restaurant has an amazing menu that can help sweeten the apology to the person you fooled on April 1. To see the menu and book a table, click here.